by Sarah

Red Shawls...

In the last couple of weeks, I finished two red shawls:

I completed this very long maroon one from my rigid heddle loom right before my trip to Chicago.
Right now it is still in need of a good washing.  It should keep its nice loose drape, but I would like the fabric to shrink up a little bit.  I plan to full it in some very hot water.

I also finally finished knitting my Hanami Shawl last night.  Started in April 2008, I cast it aside quite a few times.  Last night I made the executive decision to skip the last 16 rows of the second to last chart.  I'm glad I did, as it is completed now, and I don't miss those skipped rows.  I am hoping it looks nice with my bridesmaid dress for Nean's wedding in a couple of weeks.  Here it is pre-blocking.  I can't wait to see it all blocked out!

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Farm Share Week 7!

I skipped week 6 of the farm share by going to Chicago, but I swiped some of the fresh new baby carrots out of my sisters fridge from week 6 yesterday while delivering week 7.

When I was driving over to the CSA, I was thinking we were going to be receiving more of the same, including some stuff we didnt really want.  Likely, we will have more kohlrabi we don't want to use, and too many herbs - since I already have a big herb garden.  Lucky for me, there was a lady picking up her CSA who wanted to trade her head of lettuce for some kohlrabi...Then I offered her my pea shoots and she gave us her green beans.  That makes this week's CSA pickup the most successful ever, as I headed home with a bunch of veggies we would actually have bought ourselves:

In garden news, my zucchini plants continue to produce at almost an alarming rate...I am picking every day, and if I miss one by accident, the next day is roughly the size of a baseball batt.  So far I have made TONS of italian zucchini, a nice big pot of zucchini soup, and lots and lots of roasted and grilled zucchini.  I have been giving some of it to Nean, and some more to a couple of friends.  Mostly I have been trying to eat a lot of it, cause I figure it is keeping me healthy.  Anyone have a favorite zucchini recipe that freezes well?  I have a nice big freezer and want to save some of my summer bounty for the deep of winter.

I'm back...

Last week I was in Chicago.  I was there for business, but we had a lot of downtime, and I had a work pal to run around with.  The weather was absolutely PERFECT, and I got to really enjoy some of the fun parts of the city.  We visited the riverfront and parks a bunch of times, and we especially enjoyed a dinner at a kitschy greek restaurant in "greektown".

Now that I am back, summer seems to have descended on little Rhody in full force.  It is hot, and humid.  (I even snuck down to the Cape for a trip to the beach with my mom on Saturday.)  We seem to be having perfect growing weather for the garden.  I can't wait for the million green tomatoes I have in the second bed to ripen up.

I ripped out the pea patch with the help of a spinning pal before I left for Chicago.  While I was gone, my "volunteer" tomato plant took the opportunity to spread out, and I am letting it have that space.  On the other part of the first bed, I planted some green beans today, anticipating an early fall harvest.  I hope to have better luck training the beans up the bamboo tee-pee than I had with my peas!

Ariann Update...

This is a pic of my progress on the Ariann sweater, before I tried it on.
It has now officially been ripped back to where it is two arms and a body, all separate.  Thats more than one whole ball of yarn ripped.  It will remain in timeout until I return from my business trip, cause its just too bulky to tag along.

Here is a little note on matching up the pattern for the raglan decreases if you have changed the stitch count of the sleeves or body: Removing stitches accelerates the decrease process, and you loose all the inches from your extra cast off stitches (in my case, about 2 inches on each arm)… a very bad idea. To match up pattern - cast off FEWER stitches.  That's what I'm gonna do THIS TIME.

More Sewing, More Bags...

I made this matching bag set for Coleen.
Just because.

She got it today, and reports that she likes it.
I'm very glad.

And here's a look at the paisley lining...just because.

The fabric is by Amy Butler for Rowan - second pic more accurate on the colors.

If you aren't sure what these patterns are, you haven't been reading this blog.
Big bag - free pattern on Oh, Fransson! - the Margaret Bag.
Little wristlet - a pattern by the same I purchased on etsy...worth every penny.

I bought a floor Loom!

Here's a picture of the Murph investigating my new loom all folded up in the middle of the living room floor.

It is a Ad-A-Harness 24" loom from LW Macomber, model CP11.
It has 8 sheds and 10 petals for indirect tieup patterns.
Reported to be about 40 years old.

Can't wait to fix it all up and play!
Work slated for this weekend: a good rubdown with some murphy's oil soap and a damp cloth for the wood, a dusting and maybe some steel wool for the metal parts.

It came with some really cool loot:

A homemade yardage counter...

warping board...

extra sheds, three rusty reeds, and three shuttles...

Farm Share Week 5!

I forgot to post this Tuesday Night:

Click the picture to get a description of individual items.

Baby Quilts and Sweater Progress...

Last night I finished my favorite baby quilt so far.  The pattern and most of the fabrics were a kit from Joann, but I substituted in some of my own fabrics, as I didn't like their shiny ones. 

I stitched in a ditch to hold the quilt together, and really like the results, you can just see the orange stitching on the teal flannel:

The binding didn't come out quite as I originally had planned.  I cut it narrower than I meant to and then ended up folding it all the way over and zig zag stitching it down.  I really like the way it came out (and I seriously love those little duck butts):

This will be gifted to some family, with a few decorated onsies to match, when I get time to decorate them.

In other news, I have made a bit of progress on my Ariann sweater.  It is actually all together, and the raglan decreases even look like I am doing them correctly:

I am looking forward to finishing the shoulders of this sweater and moving onto a new project.   The only bad thing about continuing to finish sweaters in the summer is I have to wait to wear them.  The good thing is in the fall I will have a whole new sweater wardrobe, as this is my third sweater I am finishing this summer.

Some little wristlets...

More wristlets from the Oh, Fransson! pattern I tried out last week!

Four for the bride and bridesmaids for my sisters wedding in August:

One for me from some Heather Bailey Fresh Cuts fabric:

One for my sister Jen out of some cool orange fabric:

And last but not least, one for Jody for winning my blog contest at the end of May.  Thanks for being so patient Jody!

Sleeves and Spinning...

I am only 5 rows away from finishing the second sleeve - hopefully I will be onto the shoulders of the Ariann Sweater this weekend!

AND, I spun up some of my handdyed fiber from the dye workshop, the alpaca silk merino.

Before:

After:

And I spun up two bobbins of singles from a Grafton Batt.  It was gorgeous to spin, I can't wait to get another one.  For now, I an still trying to decide if I should ply it together for a slightly bulky yarn, or ply it with something else to get more yardage.  Either way it will be gorgeous!

Bobbin 1:

Bobbin 2: